9/16/09 conversation/update with CEO James Watson
Summary
- Guard Dog Internal system/infrastructure work “99% completed.”
- Real Estate co. Agreement & marketing blitz will be given the green light once the system has been 100% completed & approved by the various vendor/parties.
- Kendra Todd will be featured / involved in most, if not all, of the major company initiatives/programs.
- There will be several very strong co. announcements (PR’s) once the system is completed/validated/approved. They are lined up & none sound like fluff. Some sounded very high profile. No specific time-period stated.
- Company funding is not publicly disclosed; however, Watson did emphasize that the company itself has a positive revenue flow.
- No plans to change the share structure.
Detail
The real estate agreement (and initial marketing campaigns) would already have been in effect if the systems upgrades were completed earlier. This has been the hold up. James said they’re 99% through the upgrade, they’re “working extremely hard” on it, and expect to conclude the remaining 1% shortly (“shortly” is my word; he said something to that effect). In anycase, it was a non-specified period of time.
Once the upgrades are completed, the real estate company will verify it, which is the final step for approving the Agreement & launching Guard Dog into their employee benefits package.
Additionally, the completed upgrades will also signal the start of the marketing blitz. This blitz will be multi-faceted, and will expand over (a short period of) time to include:
- Web campaigns to drive internet traffic
- Customer awareness contests (as managed by a large 3rd party)
- “Affiliate Summits,” at which Guard Dog will be physically present (booth, talks, etc.) to drive partnership & branding opportunities
- Online malls (BSP, NSD, etc.)
- Radio & TV/cable spots featuring Kendra Todd
- Watson: “People will be able to see these various marketing campaigns & their effect should be somewhat self-evident to those paying attention.”
- Kendra Todd’s likeness will be on 80-90% of all marketing material.
Watson said Guard Dog will be continually adding features to their website. For example, they’re looking at doing an “animated version” (video?) of a Kendra Todd testimony.
On the subject of releasing PR’s, Watson reiterated he will not release any fluff PR’s, but there has been a LOT going on behind the scenes that he will be able to announce soon, once the system upgrade process is concluded. Much of what will be PR’d will also be able to be authenticated through various channels, ie the general public will see Guard Dog’s (read Kendra’s) presence in a variety of places/settings.
In terms of communication - providing updates to shareholders outside of PR’s - Watson said he intends to start a shareholder newsletter or automated email, once some of the more immediate (priority) tasks are completed.
My Take-Aways
Watson came across as a CEO whose head is in the game - engaged in his business - who has a vision of where he wants to take it, is knowledgeable about the current “state-of-the-business” & what the prioritized next steps are to drive subscription levels (revenue) & branding. That’s my real, honest-to-God take. This is not to say I know him to be a 40-60 hour-a-week GRDO man; I don’t. He has other businesses as well, and I’m sure they claim his attn. too. However, if the key hold-up has been technical in nature, and he’s not someone with a technical/systems programming background, there’s only so much he can do himself to move that ball forward – at least for the past few months.
I say this just as a counterpoint to the at-times uncontested claims that Watson isn’t engaged & isn’t as aware of the market opportunity for this business as he could be. I found him to be expressly aware of the what the market opportunities are here – especially with leveraging Kendra Todd’s existing professional branding & media presence to launch Guard Dog ID into a “recognized name” category. I have no doubt whatsoever after this conversation about his intention to, as much as possible, join KT & GRDO at the hip, and leverage the trust-factor she has built with a national audience into branding GRDO to drive high volume subscriptions, via large Corporate accounts (such as the nat’l real estate co.) & individual/retail subscribers.
Finally, I do think we’re looking at sequential non-fluff PR’s in the near future (hopefully very near, but I don’t know) with a steady flow thereafter as (or if) the business is increasingly able to fund larger & higher-profile campaigns.
Possible con: Watson did say he had no plans/intentions to make any change to the share structure, but he would not want to lock that into stone for an extended period of time as it could potentially handcuff him if a very “large entity” wanted to partner with GRDO at some point down the road. Likewise, depending how the business ramps up, he would might also consider a share buyback advantageous. So, I did not hear any equivocation in his saying he doesn’t plan to increase the A/S, but he’s not willing to lock himself into that position for a long period of time for the reasons stated.
Bottomline: I think we'll be seeing some fantastic news being released soon. VERY PLEASED with that conversation with Watson.
